Bird by Bird - Heather Dyer

 

© nao-cha

“Bird by bird, son,” says Mr. Lamott, when his son is overwhelmed by a school project on birds and doesn’t know where to begin: “Just take it bird by bird.”

'Bird by bird,' is also what I tell myself when I’m facing the immensity of writing a new book. Often a new creative endeavour is a journey into the unknown. We advance paragraph by paragraph, scene by scene – often without being entirely sure where we’re headed. We keep our heads down, measuring our progress word by word.

But sometimes it's helpful to measure our progress not by word count, but by time spent writing. Therefore, 'bird by bird' could also mean ‘moment by moment’.

In October, Nicola Morganset up an October ‘NanoWrimo’ (Novel Writing Group) for authors in the Scattered Authors’ Society. All those who signed up agreed to declare our writing goals at the beginning of the month and encourage each other to keep on track daily via Facebook.

I signed up for the group to help motivate myself to write. But I didn’t declare a daily word count. My goal was simply to open one of my two writing projects – one fiction, one non-fiction – and work on it for an unspecified time first thing every morning. Only after this could I start my other work: editorial report writing, lesson planning, admin, errands…

I used to clear the decks of all this 'other stuff' before tackling my creative writing. But last year other work built up to such an extent that the decks were never clear. I ended up batting off one ‘urgent’ task after another, just to keep up. If I did get to pause I found myself panting and out of breath – not a conducive state of mind for creativity. I realized one day that it had been nearly a year since I’d properly given some attention to the sort of writing that all my other work was meant to support.

And what did I discover during the October Wrimo? I discovered that even fiddling ineffectually with my writing projects tended to produce at least a sentence or an idea that I could build on the following day.

Also, dipping into the worlds of my books – even for just half an hour – allowed these worlds to develop bit by bit in my unconscious. Then, in quiet or preoccupied moments (like walking to work or showering or meditating) lines of dialogue or new ideas tended to arise in my consciousness like bubbles in a pot of porridge on a low heat.

Bird by bird my projects grew, so that at the end of the week I was undeniably further on than I had been at the beginning.

But best of all, I no longer felt the guilt associated with not having been 'creative’. It was only once this guilt was lifted that I realized that I had been struggling to work through a low-level stress caused by the knowledge that I had neglected something that was important but not shouting for attention; something hovering in the background, waiting. I found that by attending to my creative work first, this stress disappeared.

And in the end, I still got as much 'other' work done. If anything, I became more efficient, more patient,  and worked with a greater focus – because I have already satisfied that ‘thing’ hovering in the background.

This way of working is not new to me – in fact, I advise all my students to try working this way. But somehow I had let my priorities slide. The October NanoWrimo group prompted me to remember my priorities. I feel better for it – and so does my writing.

 “Bird by bird,” is the title of Anne Lamott’s book about writing and about being a writer.

Heather Dyer's latest book is The Flying Bedroom.
www.heatherdyer.co.uk

 

 

Determination, Organisation and Procrastination – Damian Harvey

I’m not one for making New Year’s resolutions because, as everyone knows, they famously never stand for more than a couple of days. I am, however, consciously determined to be more organisedfrom now on. We’re ten days into the year and so far it’s going well – Hey! it’s a start. All of my paperwork, barring the imminent tax return, is done and up to date, as is my diary and calendar. I have a few writing deadlines stretching out before me but there are no worries there as everything is coming along nicely.

I love writing and being a writer and can’t think of anything I would rather do. I love being able to work from home creating stories, poems and rhymes. I love seeing rough illustrations and final artwork and the way it all comes together as a finished book. I love visiting schools and libraries to share stories and to work with children on their own writing. Making a living at this writing business can be tricky though - there’s lots of things that need to be balanced in order to make it work. In terms of the work itself I need to balance writing and school visits – both essential to me if I want to make some sort of living and avoid the need to “get a proper job”. It can be tempting to fill the diary with school and library work to bring in some money but that means there’s not much time left for the writing.

At the moment I’m working on a little series of short, non-fiction books. The first couple of books have been written, a draft of the third is almost ready to send off, research is underway for the fourth, the contract has been signed and part payment will be coming soon. It’s all exciting stuff and very comforting knowing that I’m actually getting paid for the work I’m doing as opposed to the more usual ‘writing and hoping’. I’m really enjoying writing the books and doing the research for them but I’m also very conscious of a problem.  A problem that can be summed up with one word – procrastination. I am very aware that I have a inclination  to procrastinate, or monkey around doing things that could, and invariably should, be done later – emails, tweets, website tweaks, sorting out my sock drawer and just about anything else. Hence the determination to be more organised, focused, and on target.

Before undertaking this non-fiction project I was working on a couple of picture books and a novel for older readers. The novel was coming along nicely but I had to set it to one side so I could concentrate on meeting the deadlines for the non-fiction texts. At first I worried that the novel might wither and die without me there to nurture it, but that concern has all but gone… The characters are flitting around in my head like butterflies trapped in a jar. The problem is that they’ve been joined by other fluttering ideas too – some bright and exciting, and all vying for my immediate attention. For now though I’m placating them all by jotting down notes and I’m determinedly avoiding the urge to take the lid of the jar and go chasing after every idea that catches my interest – another picture book, a pop-up book, a book of poems, a young reader book and lots more. Sadly, I know only too well what will happen if I succumb to the temptation of these enticing creatures – lots of unfinished stories, nothing to show for it and the ever frightening need to ‘get a proper job’.

So, no resolutions from me this year – just a little focus.

Damian Harvey www.damianharvey.co.uk
 
Damian can be found procrastinating on twitter @damianjharvey

His latest book (an OUP Treetops Chuckler)
Smelly Socks and Terrible Tangles comes out today.